House, govt, Supreme Court in rush to select judges for new court

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following the approval of the constitutional court bill by the House of Representatives, the government, House of Representatives and the Supreme Court will now have to work hard to select judges for the court before the Aug. 17 deadline.

Each of the three institutions have to appoint three judges to the Constitutional Court before this date, making up a total nine judges.

The House's Commission II on legal affairs plans to conduct selection hearings for its candidate judges on Aug. 13 and August 14, and will make its selections on Aug. 15, commission chairman Agustin Teras Narang said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that the government would also appoint three judges before Aug. 17.

Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on Thursday that the Supreme Court had already identified a number of candidates for the Constitutional Court. The Supreme Court would soon make a definitive selection of three of these, all of whom are high court judges.

After the three institutions appoint their judges to the Constitutional Court, the court will be officially inaugurated on August 17 at the latest.

The nine judges of the Constitutional Court will serve for five years, with the possibility of reappointment for a further five-year term.

The selection of the Constitutional Court judges is now essential following the House's endorsement of the constitutional court bill late on Wednesday evening.

Wednesday's plenary session was convened amid the Annual Session of People's Consultative Assembly, which also comprises all the members of the House.

As the deadline for the selection of the nine judges nears, it is clear that little public participation will be involved in the selection process.

In fact, the selection process in the House of Representatives will be the most ostensibly democratic as it will involve selection hearings for each candidate before a final decision is made.

Commission II chairman Teras Narang said on Thursday that his selection team would invite each faction in the House to nominate a maximum of three candidates.

After that, Teras said, the selection team would listen to suggestions from the public before holding its selection hearings.

The final results of the selection process would be presented to the House plenary session on Aug. 15.

The commission had identified four candidates so far.

Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of the Golkar faction disclosed on Thursday that his faction would nominate three candidates and one of them would be Andi Mattalata, a Golkar legislator.

If selected, Andi would have to relinquish his membership of Golkar as the bill prohibits a judge of the new court from simultaneously serving as a state official, being a member of a political party, running a business, or working as a lawyer or civil servant.

Meanwhile, Mutammimul Ula of the Reform faction revealed that his faction would likely nominate constitutional law experts Jimly Ashidiqqie of the University of Indonesia, Dahlan Thaib of the Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Islamic University, and Mukti Fadjar of the Malang-based Brawijaya University.

The Constitutional Court will have the power to review the constitutionality of laws, adjudicate on disputes or conflicts between state institutions, dissolve political parties and resolve electoral disputes.

The court also has the power to rule on allegations by the House that the president and/or vice president are guilty of treason, corruption, bribery, serious crimes or misconduct.

The definitions of treason, serious crimes and misconduct are to be set out in the ancillary legislation.

A hearing by the Constitutional Court must be attended by at least seven judges.

Powers of Constitutional Court -------------------------------------------------------------- No. Action At the request of -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Law review Individuals, those representing a specific community,

private and public institutions

2. Disputes between State institutions

state institutions

3. Dissolution of The government

a political party

4. Electoral disputes Individuals, legislative candidates,

presidential and vice presidential

candidates, political parties.

5. Impeachment The House ------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Constitutional Court Bill